The Heart of X
by thedarkangel22
Summary: Moving past their teen years, the Titans have grown into adult heroes. As the newest, and most unlikely, addition to the team, Red X has changed quite a bit. A new look, and a new team, but some things die hard. RedX/OC. Rating may change later on.


**A/N: **_Hey, hey everybody. This is the first chapter and the introduction to my new story, The Heart of X. As you'll notice, this story is set a few years into the future. Both Robin and Beast Boy have changed their names to Nightwing and Changeling respectively. Also, Nightwing (20) and Starfire (20) are together as are Raven (20) and Changeling (19) and Cyborg (22) and Bumblebee (21). These ages may or not be accurate, but whatever :)_

_I hope you all enjoy it :)_

* * *

The sun was shining high above the city of Jump, and the Titans were walking the streets, looking to grab a bite to eat. They had just stopped Cinderblock from destroying the local high school and decided that they needed some time out as a team.

"Alright now kids," smirked Cyborg as he walked behind Nightwing and Starfire. When neither of them acknowledged the man, he shoved in between the twenty year old lovebirds, dropping his arms casually over their shoulders.

"What have I told ya'll about those looks, huh?" he teased, enjoying how the young Tamaranean woman flushed.

"And what have I told you about minding your own business Cy?" retorted the leader of the Titans, with a roll of his eyes. Elbowing the larger man aside, Nightwing resumed his previous position next to his giggling girlfriend.

"Oh Nightwing," giggled Starfire, "do not be the rude."

"Listen to the little lady," said Cyborg. Before Nightwing could come up with something else to say, a cry came from in front of them.

"Dudes! My stomach is like, eating itself," complained the green changeling from where he stood clutching his midsection. Beside him, Raven rolled her eyes at her boyfriends' dramatics.

"You ate two hours ago," she commented monotonously and received a wide eyed look from Changeling.

"Exactly! I'm dying Rae," he cried melodramatically, prompting Raven to roll her eyes again, wondering again exactly how she'd ended up with the nineteen year old cry baby.

"Okay, okay," started Nightwing, quickening his paces. "We wouldn't want you to die of hunger or anything."

"Are you sure about that?" commented Raven before she walked ahead with the other couple.

Chuckling, Cyborg came up behind the pouting man and slapped his shoulder heartily.

"You're lucky your girlfriend isn't part of your team," muttered Changeling and Cyborg laughed outwardly.

"I'm sure you don't think that when you're all cuddled up with Rae Rae in your bed at night," commented Cyborg with a wink and laughed when Changelings face took on a red glow.

"Let's go eat," he mumbled and started to walk quickly towards the Pizza Palace. Cyborg was still laughing at his friend when he noticed that someone was missing.

"Hey BB, where's X?" he called.

"No idea," the younger man called over his shoulder, before stopping and turning to glare at his friend. "And it's _Changeling_ remember? Not Beast Boy."

"Aw, BB, you'll always be Beast Boy to me," said Cyborg to the scowling man. They entered the Palace and immediately saw where the other Titans were seated. As they walked towards their friends, they were stopped by a young boy asking for an autograph.

Grinning, Cyborg took the black sharpie and looked for a blank space on the piece of paper already holding signatures from the other Titans.

"There ya go bud."

"'Ank you," commented the boy, unable to form the words properly because of his two missing front teeth. "Do you know where Red X ith?"

"He just disappeared," said Changeling, looking around, trying to locate their newest team member. A little more than two years ago, Nightwing, who still went by Robin at the time, teamed up with the most unlikely adversary to take down Slade. Together, Robin and Red X had worked together for months, planning and plotting. Once Slade was destroyed, Robin surprised everyone when he presented Red X with a communicator and asked him to be a part of Titans.

The only thing that surprised them even more was when Red X accepted.

"Maybe he's—"

"Right here," came the deep voice from next to them. Changeling coughed to try and hide his squeak of surprise and Cyborg grinned, watching as the masked man took the sheet of paper from the awestruck kid to sign it.

Cyborg had to admit, Red X had come a long way.

At the very beginning of his time with the Titans, he refused to sign any autographs, do any press, talk to any fans, or read any fan mail. Slowly, _very slowly_, he began to loosen up and started to be friendlier to not only the people of Jump, but also to his team mates. He was still no Starfire, but it was progress.

Along with the change in his attitude, he'd also changed his look. As he grew from a teenager to a man, he ditched the cape. He kept the black suit, belt, boots and gloves, though they had been tailored to fit his now larger, more muscular body. He'd also got rid of the full face mask, opting to use a Domino mask instead. This change displayed his thick black hair and made him even more popular with the lady-fans.

A fact that he never seemed to forget.

"Red X, you are found," cried Starfire cheerfully as the three men made their way to the table.

"I was never lost sugar," said Red X with a smirk, and no matter how often he'd heard the man refer to his girlfriend as such, Nightwing wrapped his arm tighter around Starfire.

"Come, sit," said Starfire, patting the spot next to her and Nightwing rolled his eyes. Catching the action, Starfire leaned over to kiss her boyfriend.

"Nuh uh, not when I'm eating," complained Cyborg as he sat down next to Changeling. Reluctantly the Tamaranean pulled away and sent him a look that had Nightwing blushing and shifting awkwardly in his seat. Before Changeling could comment, a blonde server came by with their pizzas, and he forgot what he was going to say as the aroma wafted into his nostrils. Rubbing his palms together he dove into the pizza, vegetarian of course, and was just about to take a large bite when a loud crash sounded outside. Everyone within the Palace froze, and somewhere a small child started to wail. When the second crash sounded, Nightwing got to his feet.

"Titans, go!" he shouted and they all started towards the door. All except for Changeling, who was practically weeping at this point.

"Aw come _on,_" he groaned but noticed that everyone was out the door already. Sneaking a look in that direction, he made to take a bite, just one, but the pizza slice was suddenly engulfed in a black aura. He gulped and looked up to see Raven glaring at him.

Without another word he turned into a cheetah and raced out the door. He didn't have to run far, however, because all the other Titans were standing only a few feet away. They were all standing in front of a large dust cloud, which successfully hid the villain from their view. Turning into a hawk, Changeling took to the skies, along with Starfire and Raven, to see if they could catch a glimpse of the threat.

Unable to see anything, Changeling started to fly closer. The closer he got to the dust cloud, however, the hotter it seemed to get. Flying away and changing back into a human he looked at Nightwing.

"Dude, I think there's a fire. The heat is intense."

"So you believe this newcomer has set something aflame?" asked Starfire, as she and Raven settled on the ground.

"Well I don't—"

"I see something," interrupted Red X as he withdrew two X shaped shuriken.

"Get ready," said Nightwing, extending his bo staff just as the faint outline of a tall, slim figure began to materialize in the dust. Changeling morphed into a tiger, and Starfire conjured up her starbolts.

Just then the smoke began to clear and they caught a glimpse of glowing red hair.

"Titans, go—"

Nightwing was cut off by Starfire shriek. He immediately turned to his girlfriend, expecting to see her on the ground, writhing in pain, but she was instead grinning from ear to ear, hands clasped in front of her chest.

"Star wait—" started Nightwing, as she bulleted towards the figure, but the arm he shot out to grab her was too late. Instead, he watched in horror as she launched herself at the person coming out of the settling dust. He started to run towards her, but stopped in his tracks when he realized that she wasn't attacking the figure, she was _hugging _it.

As the smoke disappeared, Nightwing saw that the figure wasn't an 'it', but rather a woman, at least as far as he could tell. The figure was glowing so brightly that it was almost blinding.

Starfire straightened, though she didn't let go of the strange woman, and started to rapidly speak in what he thought was Tamaranean. To his surprise, the other replied in the same tongue.

"Uh, dude?" questioned Changeling shifting back to human. Retracting his staff, Nightwing shrugged.

"Looks like they know each other," commented Cyborg, crossing his arms.

"Uh Star...?"

Still wrapped arm in arm with the woman, Starfire turned to face her team.

"Friends!" she cried happily, "I wish for you to meet my melkvarg, Princess Aden of Okora, a very good friend of mine, whom I've known since I was very young."

"Okora?" said Nightwing furrowing his brows, wondering why that name seemed so familiar. Suddenly it hit him.

"Star, you mean the place where you went to train for war?"

"Yes, the home of the legendary Warlords of Okora, where the royalty of the Vega Star system and beyond travel to learn the ways of war. It is also the sister planet of Okaara, which is home to the Warlords of Okaara, who also do the training of royals for war."

Starfire then turned to say something to the Princess at her side and the Titans watched, thankfully, as the bright glowing slowly began to dim. Eventually, they were left staring at a tall, statuesque woman with long curly auburn hair, shades darker than Starfire's own locks, and stunningly gold coloured eyes rimmed with black.

"Woah," Changeling whispered, awestruck, and then he cowered as a black form hovered in front of him.

Clearing his throat Nightwing stepped forward, extending a hand.

"Hi, I'm Nightwing, and uh... wait, does she speak English?"

"Or do you have to kiss her—ow Rae, I was just kidding," sulked Changeling, rubbing the back of his head where a bruise was surely beginning to form.

"I speak English," she said in a husky voice that made the hairs on Changeling's neck stand on end. She stepped out of Starfire's embrace and moved towards Nightwing. Ignoring his extended hand, she crossed her arms and thumped her fists against her chest three times.

"Greetings Nightwing. I am Princess Aden of Okora, but you might also call me Inferno."

"Inferno," repeated Nightwing with a smile and a slight nod, "welcome to Earth." He then went on to introduce each member of the team.

"Please, friend, why have you come here? Is something the matter?" asked Starfire afterwards.

"I—"

"Perhaps we should head back to the tower," said Raven, eyeing the people who'd started to gather around them. Nightwing nodded.

"Alright, lets head home gang," he said and then turned to Inferno to offer her a ride back to the tower, but she and Starfire were nowhere to be found. A flash of purple caught his eye and he looked up to see the two aliens hovering in the air. Starfire waved to him and blew him a kiss before flying off towards the tower, Inferno flying right beside her. With a shrug, Raven disappeared into the ground.

"So I guess we should get going," said Cyborg before he made his way to where the T-car was parked with Changeling. Scratching his head, Nightwing nodded at Red X who'd remained unusually quiet during the whole ordeal.

"So what do you think of the Princess?" asked Nightwing as they walked to their parked cycles. He only lifted an eyebrow when Red X remained silent. "What?"

"Nothing," he said shrugging, "I just think that she has some sort of a hidden agenda. I don't trust her."

"Well Starfire seems to trust her," commented Nightwing as he got onto the N-Cycle. Red X snorted.

"Of course you'd side with your girlfriend," he said scornfully.

"I'm not—" Nightwing didn't get to finish, because Red X revved his motorcycle and was off. The young man sighed and rubbed his face, and wondered why his friend seemed to take such an instant disliking to the newcomer. Starting his cycle, he sped down the streets of Jump.

._._._._._.

The girls obviously made it to the tower ahead of the boys. Sitting in the Ops room, Starfire was chattering continuously, switching from English to Tamaranean and back. Not knowing what else to do, Raven stood to the side and took the time to study the new alien.

The woman was tall, taller than Starfire even. She also had a body that was curvaceous, toned, and very much exposed due to her barely there uniform. She wore a skin-tight long sleeved top with a round neck which ended about an inch under her breasts, displaying her toned and muscular abdomen. As for her bottoms, Raven could only explain that article of clothing as boy-short underwear. On her feet were shoes that looked a lot like gladiator sandals. Aside from all of that, the woman also wore some sort of a choker around her neck which held a gold coloured jewel in the center. That same golden jewel was on the wristbands she wore.

Raven noticed that her uniform looked quite a bit like that of Starfire and the people of her planet. The only difference was that while the Tamaranean's wore a cheery purple colour, Inferno wore all black. The only colour on her was her golden skin, her red-ish hair, and her jewel toned eyes and accessories.

All of a sudden the loud sound of Cyborg's laughter was heard and Raven knew that the guys had finally arrived.

Surely enough, the doors slid open, and Cyborg and Changeling walked in.

"Where are Nightwing and Red X?" asked Starfire, looking over her shoulder at them.

"In the hallway arguing about something," responded Cyborg.

"About what?" asked Starfire, floating to her feet.

"Red X doesn't want to come out here," said Changeling and Cyborg smacked him in the back of the head.

"Dude!" he cried, rubbing the back of his head where Raven had hit him earlier. The older man glared down at him and then looked pointedly in Inferno's direction. Eventually, Changeling caught on.

"Oh... uh, it's not because of you or anything..." he said uselessly to Inferno, laughing slightly. At that moment the doors opened again and Nightwing and a pissed off looking Red X walked in.

"What's going on?" asked Nightwing, noticing that everyone was staring at them.

"Uh—" Starfire started, but Inferno cut in.

"We were simply talking about how your friend does not seem to like me. Red X, correct?" she asked with a condescending little smirk. Nightwing's eyebrows rose as he noted the challenge in the newcomers' eyes. Red X simply sent her an icy look, but Nightwing knew him enough to notice the simmering temper that lurked behind his calm exterior.

Trying to ease the tension, Changeling cut in.

"So where did you say you came from? Okra?"

"Okra is a vegetable," said Raven dryly and Changeling blushed as Cyborg, and Nightwing snickered.

"I come from Okora, the warrior planet."

"But I thought Okaara was the warrior planet of the Vega Star System?" asked Nightwing and Inferno nodded.

"This is true, but Okora is not only a warrior planet of the Vega System. We also watch over the Capella Star System, the Arcturus Star System, the Antares Star System, and the Aldebaran Star System."

"So your Warlords train royals from planets in all those systems?" asked Cyborg and Inferno nodded.

"Of course, that is what we do. Okaara receives the royals from Vega while we focus on all the other systems."

"So how did you meet Star? Tamaran is part of the Vega System."

"When it came time for myself and Blackfire to go to Okaara to commence our training, the planet was facing other problems. They could not receive the usual number of royals as they usually would. Because of this, they sent some of us to Okora. I was one of them," explained Starfire.

"So you trained her?" asked Changeling.

"No. I simply enjoyed dropping in on training whenever I could. I am not a Warlord, I am simply a princess." At this, Starfire gave an unladylike snort.

"Do not do the joking, dearest Aden, you are not _simply_ a princess. If my memory does not fail me, I remember you as the little girl who could do the 'serious butt-kicking' of the Warlords."

At Starfire's words Inferno simply smirked and lifted one shoulder.

"Oh Nightwing, you should have seen it! When the Warlords would pair her up with one of the other royals to practise the sparring, they would look as though someone had put a Glargnog down their Dofleg!" After saying so, Starfire dissolved into a fit of uncontrollable giggles. The only other person who seemed to understand the humour of her words was Inferno, and she was simply shaking her head, a small grin on her lips.

"Um, ha ha?" questioned Changeling, not understanding the joke.

Finally, Starfire wiped the tears off the corner of her eyes and sobered.

"Truthfully, Inferno is one of the most talented warriors in all the Systems."

Sitting in the corner of the room, Red X rolled his eyes. She didn't look like a warrior, much less the _most talented_ warrior of them all. He could probably take her with little to no trouble. After all, she was just a woman, no match for a strong _man_.

She somehow picked that moment to slide those weird golden eyes toward him, and he wondered if the alien could hear his thoughts. After regarding him for a moment, she smirked that goddamn smirk again. A mix of scorn and amusement, almost as if she was baiting him.

It pissed him off.

And when he caught himself staring at the aliens' sexy smirking lips, he nearly growled.

Fuck this, he thought and got up to storm out of the room.

* * *

**A/N:** _If you've read the comics, you'll know that Okaara was the plant where the Warlords trained the Royals of the Vega Star System how to fight and all that fun stuff. For my story, however, I've taken the liberty of creating Okora, the sister planet of Okaara. If you didn't catch it, Okora is more powerful than Okaara, ruling over not only the Vega System, but those beyond it. I'd like to mention at this time that I am **not** and expert when it comes to the comics. So if one of you are and you think I'm butchering the storyline of the comics, I'm really sorry about that, but this _is _a story that I've created myself. I want to stay true to the cartoon series, but I don't particularly care about doing so for the comics. Sorry :)  
_

_Comment and Review Please!_

_Also, do you think that I should continue the rest of the story in third person or should I do peoples POV's? _

_xoxo thedarkangel22_


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